By Robert E. Macdonald

Mayor of Lewiston

For all you supporters of the Second Amendment, here’s something that will cheer you up during the holiday season. I doubt you’ll see this in any major Maine newspaper.

On Friday, November 29, I came across an editorial in the New York Post entitled “Illegal Mayors Against Guns.” It starts off: “They call themselves mayors against illegal guns. But apparently not all of them are not against illegal activity.”

This January, Mayors Thomas Menino of Boston and Michael “Nanny” Bloomberg of New York City, co-founders of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), will step down from office. Like them or not, both men have earned national stature. This stature thrust MAIG into the forefront of the battle waged by those on the Left who want to strip you of your Second Amendment rights.

Their departure leaves a void in MAIG leadership. The question now is who has the stature and leadership abilities that will be needed to replace these men? Certainly not the following mayors.

Our first mayor in this column’s spotlight is Mayor Gordon Jenkins of Monticello, New York. He was arrested for OUI. This caused Mayor “Do you know who I am?” Jenkins to go into a rage at the police station, which ended up with him handcuffed to a chair. The reason? He punched a clock at the police station.

Next we have Craig Lowe, the mayor of Gainesville, Florida. He offered no resistance when he was arrested for OUI. He got into an accident, and when officers arrived, they found him peacefully sleeping in his car.

In Spring Valley, New York, Mayor Noramie Jasmin was apparently having trouble making ends meet on her city salary. But in a powerful position, such as mayor, unlimited opportunities are constantly laid before you.

Unfortunately for her, what she thought was the opportunity of a lifetime turned out to be an FBI informant from whom she accepted bribes.

But the best and most defining of the many mayors belonging to MAIG comes from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. Apparently Mayor James Schiliro got into a drunken argument at his home. This led him to pull his MAIG-approved handgun and discharge it in his home.

He was arrested for reckless endangerment. Rumor has it that Mayors Bloomberg and Menino pulled his MAIG membership and placed him on six months of probation.

MAIG mayors representing Hartford and Detroit are currently facing serious corruption charges. Detroit has declared bankruptcy and has been placed in receivership. Many of the outrageous over-the-top perks given by those in power to city workers have now come back to hurt retired Detroit’s municipal employees.

They now earn only 16 cents of every dollar of their pension. This means if they received $1,000 a month, they now get $160, a decrease of $840 a month.

The last sentence in the editorial sums it up quite well. It reads, “Clearly MAIG needs tougher screening—or a more accurate name.” I think I can accurately speak for myself and this column’s local readers: we concur.

Last week Lewiston Fire Union President Rick Caillier and members of our local firefighters union invited me to participate in their handing out of brand-new insulated winter coats at Lewiston Central Fire Station.

These were distributed to pre-K Head Start students who reside in Lewiston’s inner city. Watching the joy on their faces as they received their gift of winter warmth was priceless.

I publicly thank our firefighters for their compassionate and giving spirit. They have helped to make the cold of winter more bearable for these innocent little children.